Past exam of the condensed matter physics course of the University of Oxford 2015 1 c Solution 2026-10-25
The Debye model treats the crystal as an isotropic elastic continuum with independent harmonic vibrational modes. There are three acoustic polarizations, approximated by linear dispersions and a common effective speed. A cutoff is chosen to retain modes for atoms. The model neglects anharmonic interactions and the detailed high-wavevector dispersion. In a multi-atom primitive cell, optical branches require additional treatment; copper has one atom per primitive cell even though its conventional cubic cell contains four atoms.
A frequency interval contains, per volume,Each phonon mode has Bose-Einstein distribution occupation . The fixed zero-point energy contributes no heat capacity. Its thermal energy density isFor , extending the upper limit to infinity gives . ThereforeThe cubic law reflects the three-dimensional acoustic mode density proportional to . It is a low-temperature limit, not a valid extrapolation through the classical high-temperature regime.
Past exam of the condensed matter physics course of the University of Oxford 2018 1 a Solution 2026-10-25
A Bravais lattice is a set of points generated by integer translations along three independent primitive lattice translation vectors:Every lattice point has the same environment under lattice translations. A crystal structure consists of this Bravais lattice with an atomic basis of a crystal repeated at every lattice point; the set of atomic positions need not itself be a Bravais lattice.
Past exam of the condensed matter physics course of the University of Oxford 2018 2 a Solution 2026-10-25
The chemical potential is the change in Helmholtz free energy when particles are added at fixed temperature and volume:Equivalently, identifies it as the derivative of internal energy at fixed entropy and volume. In equilibrium, systems that exchange particles have equal chemical potentials.
The Fermi energy is the zero-temperature chemical potential, or, for independent electrons, the highest occupied single-particle energy in the zero-temperature limit. Its numerical value depends on the chosen energy reference; the Fermi energy need not be measured from the bottom of a band unless that convention is specified.
The cosmological principle permits a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric. The Friedmann equation, with vanishing cosmological constant, isFor separately conserved pressureless matter, the cosmological continuity equation gives : its rest energy is conserved while its physical volume grows as . Define the present critical density and matter density parameter byEvaluating the Friedmann equation today gives . Thus the model has negative spatial curvature of an FLRW universe; the second contribution to represents that spatial curvature of an FLRW universe, rather than another material fluid. Taking the expanding branch givesHere . At early times, , matter domination gives , hence, measuring cosmic time from the Big Bang,At late times the term dominates the Friedmann equation. This curvature-dominated universe has and thereforeThe late expansion approaches the coasting Milne model. The early limit belongs to this idealized matter-only model; including radiation in cosmology would alter the sufficiently early evolution.
The result is the background cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation. For a comoving region of physical volume proportional to , it is preciselyexpressing local conservation of energy including the pressure-volume work done during cosmic expansion. A transverse vector field has no velocity divergence, and the vector spatial metric tensor has no trace perturbation, so neither produces a first-order compression or density change.
The spatial result is vector-fluid momentum dilution and integrates immediately:Thus, for any specified background perfect fluid,A statement about alone does not fix the velocity scaling independently of the equation of state. For constant equation-of-state parameter , the cosmological continuity equation gives and henceFor pressureless matter, and , exactly as in the Newtonian calculation in part (a). For radiation in cosmology, and the vector peculiar velocity remains constant, although its momentum density still falls as . More generally, for a barotropic perfect fluid with cosmological adiabatic sound speed , the equivalent equation is . The Newtonian damping law describes nonrelativistic inertia; it need not apply to a relativistic perfect fluid. A pure cosmological constant has and supplies no such fluid velocity degree of freedom.
Past exam of the elasticity and plasticity course of the University of Oxford 2011 1 a Solution 2026-10-31
The deformation gradient is the derivative of the deformation map with respect to the reference configuration coordinates, at fixed time:Its determinant is the local ratio of current to reference volume: for an orientation-preserving deformation in continuum mechanics. Thus elastic incompressibility is the pointwise constraint , rather than a requirement that each individual principal stretch be one.
Past exam of the elasticity and plasticity course of the University of Oxford 2011 1 e Solution 2026-10-31
For the axisymmetric deformation map, take , , and . A reference cylindrical shell of unit axial length has volume , and the corresponding current shell has volume . Elastic incompressibility therefore gives .
Let be any material volume, moving with the velocity field . The Reynolds transport theorem in the required form isapplied componentwise when is vector-valued. Mass conservation givesSince the material volume is arbitrary, the local continuity equation follows:For an inviscid fluid with no body force, the balance of linear momentum equates the rate of change of total momentum to the boundary pressure force:using the divergence theorem. The integrand on the left expands asThe bracket vanishes by mass conservation, leaving the Euler momentum equationUnlike the incompressible flow case, the mass density need not be constant along a fluid element.
Past exam of the fluids and waves course of the University of Oxford 2017 1 a iii Solution 2026-10-31
Write for the mass density. A material volume contains the same fluid elements at all times, so conservation of mass requiresby the Reynolds transport theorem. Since the initial material volume can be chosen arbitrarily, continuity of the integrand forces it to vanish pointwise. Thus the continuity equation isFor positive mass density, the incompressibility condition reduces this to . Mass conservation itself does not require incompressible flow.
Past exam of the fluids and waves course of the University of Oxford 2017 1 a ii Solution 2026-10-31
Let be a smoothly moving material volume, carried by a smooth velocity field , and let be continuously differentiable. The material-volume form of the Reynolds transport theorem statesEquivalently, the divergence theorem giveswhere is the outward unit normal vector. The second integral measures the flux carried across the instantaneous boundary by its motion.
For the proof, use the particle map from , with positive Jacobian determinant . Euler's volume identity isIt is the Jacobian evolution of a smooth flow: if , differentiation gives , and differentiation of the determinant gives . The change of variables formula now moves the integral to the fixed reference volume:Finally, , giving the equivalent boundary form.
Use the spherical symmetry of the expansion, with fluid at rest at infinity and no superposed imposed flow. The radial Laplace equation givesThe moving sphere is a material boundary: its kinematic boundary condition is . Consequently , and the spherically symmetric incompressible radial flow hasEquivalently, its volumetric flow rate through any concentric sphere is , the rate of change of the enclosed volume.
Take outward radial volume flux per unit width as positive. The streamfunction in polar coordinates immediately givesFor spanwise width , the volumetric flow rate is . The wedge inside radius has cross-sectional area , whose rate of increase is . Opening therefore draws in exactly the volume needed to fill the expanding wedge; closing expels it. This is also a direct check of conservation of mass for the moving control volume. It follows from the wall boundary conditions and remains true even though the printed interior streamfunction is erroneous.
Integrating the radial velocity over the thickness gives the radial volume flux per unit width:The full volumetric flow rate across a cylindrical surface, positive outward, isAn annulus of radial thickness contains volume to leading order. Its rate of gain equals incoming minus outgoing volume flux, soDividing and taking yields the axisymmetric thin-film equation:The equation assumes no evaporation or injection through the boundaries. Integrating it over the whole drop also verifies conservation of mass when the edge carries zero volume flux.
Atomic force microscopy senses tip–sample interactions through a compliant cantilever. Contact deflection, oscillation amplitude, phase or resonance frequency can be converted into a feedback signal. Chemical bonding and short-range repulsion, van der Waals forces, electrostatic forces and, where relevant, magnetic or capillary interactions produce contrast. Apparent height at a fixed force or frequency setpoint can therefore contain interaction contrast as well as geometry. Lateral resolution depends on the effective tip apex and interaction range; finite tip radius broadens features. Vertical sensitivity also depends on thermal and detector noise, cantilever calibration, vibration, drift and feedback bandwidth. Strongly localized short-range forces favor atomic resolution, whereas extended interactions average over more of the tip and surface.
For small oscillations about equilibrium separation , write and linearize . The constant force is absorbed into the equilibrium displacement. The cantilever equation becomesConsequently the small-amplitude AFM frequency shift isThe linear expression is the small-force-gradient approximation, , in addition to the small-oscillation assumption. For an attractive force , and the resonance softens. A finite oscillation amplitude samples a weighted range of forces rather than only the gradient at one separation, and destroys local stability in this simple static model.
In a scanning electron microscope, a focused electron beam scans the surface and a detector records an emitted signal at each beam position. Low-energy secondary electrons escape from near the surface; changes in local slope, edges and detector-facing geometry give strong secondary-electron topographic contrast. Backscattered electrons result from elastic deflection of primary electrons and generally have a larger yield for higher atomic number. Their backscattered-electron atomic-number contrast therefore helps separate compositional regions. Detector geometry, crystal orientation and topography can also affect this signal, so brightness is not a unique elemental identification.
An environmental scanning electron microscope admits gas around the specimen while pressure-limiting apertures and differential pumping preserve the electron-optical column's vacuum. Electron collisions ionize the gas. Positive ions can neutralize negative charging of a poorly conducting specimen, enabling observation without a conductive coating. A gaseous secondary electron detector uses gas amplification to collect secondary-electron signals under these conditions. Gas pressure, path length and scattering must be controlled because they also affect the probe and background.[ref]
Low-vacuum SEM by JEOL. glossary entry: gas-ion charge neutralization and environmental secondary-electron detection
Finally, acquire an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy spectrum at each pixel to add elemental specificity. The beam creates inner-shell vacancies, and characteristic X-rays emitted as they fill identify chemical elements. Selecting fitted characteristic-line intensities yields elemental maps that can be compared with the electron image. Peak overlap, detector response, absorption and the X-ray-generating interaction volume limit identification, quantification and spatial resolution. This gives chemical-element contrast; resolving different bonds or oxidation states generally needs more detailed spectral information than one broad elemental map.
An observed catalogue is the result of a population, an instrument and a selection rule. Its astronomical selection function can depend on flux, color, size, surface brightness, sky location, cadence and follow-up success. The relevant cut is often on noisy measured quantities. A model that selects on noiseless true flux instead can predict a different sample even when it uses the same nominal threshold.
Malmquist bias occurs because brighter members of a population are visible through a larger volume in a flux-limited survey. For a uniform Euclidean population, and . The selected luminosity distribution is therefore weighted toward large . For an intrinsic Gaussian absolute-magnitude distribution with mean and variance , multiplying by and completing the square gives the Gaussian absolute-magnitude Malmquist shiftThis assumes the stated simple population, a complete flux cut and no additional boundaries. Exactly identical noiseless standard candles have a distance truncation, not a luminosity spread to reweight. Scatter, extinction, cosmological volume and source evolution need their own model.
Lutz-Kelker bias concerns parallax errors, spatial population weighting and selected calibration samples. Uniform spatial density gives locally, hence on the physically valid range. More distant objects can scatter into a measured-parallax cut. In addition, inversion is nonlinear and gives misleading estimates at low signal-to-noise; a negative measured parallax is possible even for a positive true distance. A posterior instead combines the parallax likelihood with a justified population prior. An unbounded uniform-volume prior is improper here; a finite population model or a proper distance prior for parallax inference is necessary.[ref]
On the Use of Trigonometric Parallaxes for the Calibration of Luminosity Systems: Theory by T. E. Lutz and D. H. Kelker. classical selected-sample parallax-calibration model
Bayes' theorem makes the assumptions explicit. If denotes population parameters, latent properties and the catalogue inclusion event, a selected-sample likelihood has the formThis selection-normalized astronomical likelihood accounts for the model-dependent probability of entering the catalogue. For individual inference, selection information already determined by the fully conditioned measured data must not be multiplied in a second time. The sampling design, inferential target and actual conditioned information determine the appropriate expression.
Other effects include Eddington bias, where steep number counts and measurement scatter move more faint objects upward than bright objects downward, and surface-brightness selection that misses diffuse galaxies despite substantial total flux. Dust extinction affects both detectability and inferred luminosity. Variable-source detection depends on cadence and duration; spectroscopic follow-up can favor easy-to-measure redshifts or particular colors. Blends, calibration drift and redshift errors can mimic population changes.
Examples include magnitude-limited supernova samples used in distance-redshift fits, where luminosity scatter and follow-up must be modeled, and radial-velocity planet surveys, which favor large-amplitude, short-period systems and leave inclination degeneracies. Forward modeling through the survey pipeline, injection-and-recovery estimates of completeness, calibrated noise and properly modeled censored or nondetected observations address these effects. A universal correction or an unexamined inverse-volume weight does not replace an explicit generative and selection model.
Bayes' theorem relates a model parameter and observed data by . The posterior describes the parameter after observation, the likelihood describes the data for a specified parameter, the prior describes the parameter before these data, and the evidence normalizes the posterior. Likelihood is a function of the unknown parameter; it is not automatically a normalized probability density over that parameter.
Stellar parallax is the apparent annual change of a nearby star's direction relative to distant background objects as the observer moves around the Sun. The conventional parallax angle uses a one-AU baseline, so in radians, or in parsecs and arcseconds. Many small approximately independent centroiding and reference-frame errors can yield approximately Gaussian parallax errors through the central limit theorem. Correlated calibration errors, outliers and low-signal image fitting can violate that approximation; Gaussian measurement errors also need not produce Gaussian errors after taking a reciprocal distance.
For a locally uniform spatial population, the number in a spherical shell is proportional to . Changing variables using givesThis is a local population-density rule on its valid distance range. It needs a finite population or survey boundary to be a normalized global prior. An unbounded volume prior combined with a Gaussian parallax likelihood can otherwise yield an improper posterior, as explained by the proper distance prior for parallax inference.
For the requested top-hat calculation, distinguish the unknown true parallax from the reported likelihood center . Take a known fixed half-width , so the likelihood is constant over . Assume this interval lies inside the applicable population range. The top-hat parallax posterior under a uniform-volume prior is thenSetting givesThe greater available volume at smaller true parallaxes weights that side of the likelihood more strongly. This inference is not an additional measurement of the star's actual parallax.
The printed notation uses both for the unknown true parallax and for the top-hat center in the numerical comparison. The distinct notation above states the consistent fixed-width interpretation yielding its result. If the half-width instead varies with the unknown parameter as , the normalized likelihood has an additional factor and different support; the same posterior calculation cannot be reused unchanged.
To improve distance inference, use independent information on luminosity, spatial density, extinction and sample selection. If the common luminosity in the measured band is calibrated, a flux measurement supplies another distance constraint through . If that common luminosity is unknown, it can be treated as a population parameter rather than silently assumed known. A finite distance distribution and the actual selection function specify which prior is appropriate. The classical Lutz-Kelker bias is a sample-calibration problem; a posterior shift under a justified prior is not itself an error to remove by a universal correction.
With flux-limited selection for identical standard candles and a noise-free threshold, there is a maximum observable distance, hence a minimum true parallax. The selected prior is truncated there. There is no luminosity-preference Malmquist bias if every object truly has the same luminosity. With a luminosity distribution, the accessible Euclidean volume scales as , preferentially including brighter objects; this is the Euclidean accessible-volume luminosity weighting underlying Malmquist bias. Flux errors additionally scatter numerous faint sources upward across a threshold, biasing selected measured fluxes. Extinction, different spectral energy distributions in a selection band, crowding, completeness and parallax-quality cuts can alter the effective population. These effects require a joint selection and error model rather than a single blanket parallax correction.
For a perfect fluid in general relativity, let be rest-frame total energy density divided by , its isotropic pressure, and its four-velocity, normalized by . ThenThe contracted Bianchi identity and the Einstein field equations give stress-energy conservation, , for a constant cosmological constant. Contract with and use the normalization to obtainIn comoving coordinates and the covariant divergence is , where a dot is a cosmic time derivative and the Hubble parameter. ThereforeFor a fixed region in comoving coordinates, let be its physical volume, where is a fixed coordinate-volume integral, and let . Since ,Thus the cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation is exactly equivalent to the adiabatic first law of thermodynamics, , for every nonzero such region. Conversely, expanding that first law of thermodynamics and dividing by recovers the same equation. No heat or particle flux crosses the comoving boundary; interacting components separately need source terms, although the total still obeys this conservation equation.
There is a sign inconsistency in the supplied formula sheet worth isolating. Its Riemann curvature tensor and Ricci tensor conventions, together with its stated metric signature, give for with constant . Its vacuum Einstein field equations with then require , whereas its printed vacuum Friedmann equation gives . For example, , and satisfy the latter but leave the former's component equal to . Changing the geometric cosmological constant term to repairs this mismatch. The conservation derivation is unaffected; below take the geometric cosmological constant to be zero and include any vacuum energy as a fluid, so no ambiguous sign enters.
Write the equation of state as . Integrating the cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation for constant gives . With spatial flatness and the geometric cosmological constant set to zero, the Friedmann equation is .
In S1, describes vacuum energy: and is constant. Its negative pressure drives accelerated expansion, , and the expanding solution is . This is the ideal de Sitter spacetime approximation to cosmic inflation. An exactly constant vacuum component cannot end its phase unaided; a phase transition or reheating mechanism is required for the assumed change to S2.
In S2, describes an isotropic bath of ultrarelativistic particles, such as photons, with negligible rest mass relative to their energy. The number per physical volume falls as , while the energy per particle redshifts as , so . This radiation-dominated universe has on its expanding branch.
In S3, describes pressureless matter, or relativistic dust, with negligible random kinetic energy. Conserved particle number and approximately fixed rest energy give . A flat universe containing only this component is the Einstein-de Sitter universe, with . The constants are integration offsets in the individual phases; they need not represent one common start time when phases are matched.
The seventeenth-century transformation extended well beyond astronomy and mathematical physics, but it was neither simultaneous nor uniform across every field. An answer limited to new planetary arrangements and laws of motion would miss changes in the study of living bodies, small structures, materials and the organization of inquiry. Calling these changes a Scientific Revolution should introduce a problem of explanation rather than decide in advance that they formed one event.
William Harvey's On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals by William Harvey provides a clear counterexample to a narrow account. His argument for blood circulation combined observation of cardiac action, the direction of flow indicated by valves, and interventions using ligatures. It also employed a quantitative constraint: if the amount propelled at each beat is multiplied by the number of beats, the throughput soon exceeds the amount that could plausibly be freshly produced and consumed as nourishment. In modern symbols, throughput is . This is an argument about a repeatedly circulating stock, not a requirement that all that volume be present at once. The book's chapter IX explicitly develops the comparison.[ref]
On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals by William Harvey. 1628 work, chapters VIII–IX and XIII: the circulation hypothesis, quantitative throughput and venous valves
The intervention was not simply an application of a completed mechanical worldview to physiology. It drew on medical and anatomical problems and retained explanatory commitments which do not coincide with later accounts of the body. A historian can recognize the force of the circulation argument without making its author an advocate of every subsequent development in medicine. Nor did a circulation argument by itself supply microscopic observation of the entire connecting pathway.
Microscopy offers a second case. Robert Hooke's Micrographia by Robert Hooke made minute structures available to a new audience through selected observations and elaborate images. His examination of cork described the small compartments for which he used the word cells; this was not yet a general modern cell theory. The work ranged across biological specimens and manufactured objects, including the point of a needle. Its preface made the improvement of the senses through scientific instruments a programme of inquiry. Preparation, illumination and representation were consequently part of making an observation, rather than optional matters outside it.[ref]
Micrographia by Robert Hooke. Preface; Observation I on a needle; Observation XVIII on cork and its compartments
The investigation of air supplied another transformation. Robert Boyle's pneumatic programme varied the conditions surrounding a specimen by using an air pump. A claim about pressure, burning or sound could be pursued by operating an apparatus and reporting what happened as air was removed or admitted. This joined work on materials to questions about experimental evidence and the acceptability of explanations. It does not follow that every old chemical practice disappeared or that experimental facts selected one complete account of matter without further reasoning.[ref]
New Experiments Physico-Mechanical by Robert Boyle (1682 edition). The apparatus and the experiments originally published in 1660; linked collected edition dated 1682
These cases also direct attention to institutions and labour. The Royal Society and the printing of experimental reports created ways of advertising findings, soliciting responses and establishing reputations. Skilled construction, preparation and repair supported claims associated in print with learned authors. A new society did not automatically make everyone a witness on equal terms, and access to a costly scientific instrument was not universal access to its results.
The breadth of change therefore strengthens the case for studying more than a sequence of theories. It does not justify treating every innovation from 1600 to 1700 as one inevitable step toward the present. Different investigations retained different parts of inherited natural philosophy; some techniques were older than their new settings, and changes in public credibility differed from changes in explanation. The useful conclusion is a plural one: significant transformations in physiology, microscopy, experimental work on matter, and knowledge-making institutions accompanied developments in astronomy and mechanics. Their connections have to be demonstrated through particular practices, not inferred solely from sharing a century.
The material culture of science comprises the objects, spaces and skilled practices through which inquiry is carried out and made credible. It includes scientific instruments and specimens, but also the workshop which produces them, the arrangements for storing and moving them, the paper on which observations are recorded, and the bodies trained to operate and inspect them. Its history asks how these things helped make a claim possible. It is not merely a catalogue of old apparatus attached to a history whose explanations are otherwise complete.
A telescope is a useful starting point. Galileo Galilei's celestial reports depended on shaped glass, an arrangement of lenses, pointing and focusing, and a practised interpretation of a small, unstable visual field. A potential witness needed reasons to trust that an unfamiliar appearance was celestial rather than an instrumental artefact. His repeated records of the changing positions near Jupiter supplied an evidential pattern: a sequence was more persuasive than a single spectacular image. The printed drawings and account carried an experience beyond the small group able to look through that particular scientific instrument.[ref]
Sidereus Nuncius by Galileo Galilei. Description of the instrument and the successive dated observations of Jupiter's companions
Microscopy illustrates why seeing is an activity rather than a passive delivery of facts. A specimen has to be selected, prepared, lit and brought into focus. Robert Hooke's Micrographia by Robert Hooke discusses improving sensory capacities and presents observations through text and engraving. Its enlarged structures are reasoned representations intended to communicate salient features; a reader cannot assume that an engraving is an unmediated view identical to every observer's sight. The modern question is not whether every historical drawing could be mistaken for a photograph, but how its production and circulation supported particular claims.[ref]
Micrographia by Robert Hooke. Preface; Observation I on a needle; Observation XXXIV on the eyes and head of a fly, including the problems of preparation and illumination
The air pump brings construction and maintenance into the explanation. A receiver, piston, connecting passage and valves create a setting in which air can be progressively withdrawn. Leaks, imperfect seals and the size of the pumping chamber affect what a trial actually achieves. In a modern idealized isothermal model with receiver volume and fresh evacuated pump space , connecting the two changes the receiver pressure by the factor . After such ideal cycles,This reconstructive model is not being attributed as Robert Boyle's own derivation. It shows why an instruction to use a pump cannot specify an experimental condition without information about the apparatus and procedure. Nor does a practical pump produce an exact vacuum merely because its operator uses that word.[ref]
New Experiments Physico-Mechanical by Robert Boyle (1682 edition). Apparatus description and reported pneumatic experiments; later collected edition of the work first issued in 1660
Material arrangements determine the conditions and records of an experiment
. Original explanatory schematics of an ideal pump and a closed-system mass accounting; not reproductions of historical apparatus or measurements. Details.The second panel makes the same point about a balance. In a closed vessel, the mass of all contents can remain constant even while a heated metal gains mass by incorporating material from the gas. Weighing only the metal, or opening the vessel before the final weighing, defines a different comparison. Antoine Lavoisier's experimental accounting therefore involved vessels, gases, transfer procedures and the choice of system boundary as well as a numerical reading. Knowing that an investigator owned an accurate balance is insufficient to reconstruct what a particular weighing established.[ref]
Elements of Chemistry by Antoine Lavoisier. Part I on combination with oxygen and Part III on experimental apparatus and manipulation
Material culture also makes overlooked contributors visible. Glassworking, engraving, machining, collecting and carrying specimens can be prerequisites for a result whose printed account names only a learned author. Differences in access to workshops, money and audiences affect whose observations can circulate and be repeated. Such dependence does not entail that observations are arbitrary: failure of a seal or disappearance of a specimen can impose a quite definite physical constraint. Social organization and the resistance of materials are both relevant.
Finally, surviving objects have their own source problems. An scientific instrument in a museum may have been repaired, combined with later parts or removed from the room and working routines which made it useful. A printed plate may depict an ideal arrangement rather than an object that existed in exactly that form. Linking an object to notebooks, accounts and published reports can recover the relation between design and use. The explanatory aim is to understand how material arrangements, skilled action and records made claims testable and transportable. It complements intellectual history by showing what an argument required people actually to build, handle and do.


